


Of Gods and Monsters, Saga 2: Brother, Have You Heard?

by bzarcher, solarbird



Series: Of Gods and Monsters [13]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Hanzo is Awkward, Background Poly, Background Relationships, Catching Up, China, Depression, Developing Relationship, F/F, F/M, Fucked Up, Grief/Mourning, Implied Relationships, Mei Really Needs a Hug, Multi, Nepal, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Shambali (Overwatch), Speculation, Theories, briefings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 16:17:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14405853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bzarcher/pseuds/bzarcher, https://archiveofourown.org/users/solarbird/pseuds/solarbird
Summary: Moira O’Deorain has won. Her rivals within Talon destroyed, her trio of loyal Weapons - the Changed and copper-eyed Tracer, the silver-eyed Oilliphéist, and golden-eyed Widowmaker - at her command, to remake the world.The remnants of Overwatch, licking their wounds and mourning their lost friends, now seek to regroup, trying to figure out how to fight back in a war no one else realises is being fought - and what comes next in a world that may already be changing beneath their feet.This story - a side-step/alternate-ending sequel toThe Armourer and the Living Weapon- will be told in a series of eddas, sagas, fragments, texts, and cantos, all of which serve their individual purposes. To follow it as it appears,please subscribe to the series.





	Of Gods and Monsters, Saga 2: Brother, Have You Heard?

"I'm not convinced scatterin' was th' best idea, Jack. Not if y'want to know the truth of it."

Reinhardt nodded, his squire beside him. "I agree, my friend. There is a time to stand and fight. I prefer to stand and fight."

"Of course," Brigitte said, "you think that's every time."

Morrison managed a little bit of a smile, sipping at his beer. He couldn't really get drunk, but with enough of a go, he could get himself just to the edge of tipsy, and he'd got himself there.

"It's not for good," Ana reminded them. "Gibraltar simply wasn't defensible, not with so few people. We had to disperse, before Moira's... enforcers... decided to collect anyone else." She shuddered. "You think we didn't try to get into Oasis ourselves? Do you think I would let Fareeha go without a fight?"

"I have a lot of ways in and out of places," Morrison said, nodding. "We spent weeks trying. Couldn't even get close to the city. We only made it in sight, once, before we got picked up and chased by their local defences. Most of the time, we were being stopped at the Iraqi border." He grumbled into his very strong beer. "I don't even know how they tracked us. Lena and Angela had to have given them everything."

"So," Amari said, "we came here, until we could regroup, to gather more intelligence and search for weaknesses. There has to be a way in, somehow. We will find it."

"Also, some news is best shared in person," she continued, after a moment. "The Shambali are offering refuge to former Overwatch, and, really, any of Talon's... targets."

"So that's the regroup point, then?" the Swedish engineer growled. "The site of my worst nightmares?"

"You're gonna have to get over that attitude, old friend," Morrison said, quietly. "Jesse's there already. So's Genji, and his brother Hanzo's on his way. Unless you have more pull within the European governments than we do..."

"Why can't we just tell them what's going on? What they are doing," Brigitte exclaimed, "it is outrageous!"

"We have. And a few of the intelligence services are taking it... at least somewhat seriously," Ana replied. "But what can they do? The supposed victims are out and about, doing their usual things, for the most part. Whoever they've made out of Ziegler does a good impression - she'd just laugh, say she was fine, and everyone would believe her. With no one willing - or able - to admit being a victim... how do you prove the crime?"

"If I remember - only the DGSE even took Widowmaker seriously, and that was because she had connections in the old French nobility," Reinhardt said, sadly. "And because they turned her blue. That made it easier. But Angela looks... fine. Better than fine - she looks happy! Excited about the future." He shook his head, slowly, thinking. "If I didn't know... I would never believe it."

"Exactly," Morrison said. "We're losing a war nobody else even knows is being fought, and all our casualties are healthy and - apparently - quite happy."

Ana nodded. "How do you fight a war where no one seems to lose?"

\-----

_”Puta que pariu!”_

Hana snorted at Lúcio’s reaction as they watched the video file Athena had clipped for them: the new CEO of the Vishkar corporation talking about the company’s plans for reorganization and restructuring to ‘better meet the needs of a constantly evolving world.’ “Yeah, I figured you’d say something like that.”

Lúcio glared at her comm window, then pointed at the video on the screen in his studio. “I _told_ you we couldn’t trust her!”

Hana sighed. She’d hoped this would go a _little_ better. “I know you did. But c’mon, Lú. Think about the way she acted the last few times we worked with her.” She zoomed the video in, focusing on the oddly pale eyes behind Satya’s ‘Vishkar blue’ tinted glasses. “Do you _really_ think she’s the same person?”

“She left Vishkar because she was upset about Gupta manipulating her,” Lúcio pointed out darkly. “Not because she thought the way they did things was _wrong._ So now that he’s gone? She runs right back home.” He gave a scornful toss of his head, making his locs bounce. “For all we know she was _always_ hoping we’d get rid of him. Just another corporate power play.”

“ _Lú_ ,” Hana said firmly. “C’mon. I need your brains, and that means I need your head out of your ass, okay? Satya didn’t like the Sanjay guy, and what he did - but you remember how she talked about the fires in the favelas. She didn’t believe in that - she really did want to make things better - and she was _horrified_ that Vishkar was working with Talon.” She met Lúcio’s eyes through the screen. “Does that sound like the person in that video?”

“No,” Lúcio finally admitted, slumping into his studio chair. “It doesn’t.” He pulled on his glasses and took a closer look at the screen. “So you think they got her.”

“She goes from being a disgraced, on the run architech who the company refuses to discuss to the new CEO, and in the same press conference she announces plans to ‘diversify operations’?” Hana zoomed back out and started the playback again. “We may not be able to see exactly what happened to her eyes, but she’s got the freaky-smooth thing going now, like Angela and Lena did. Do.” 

“Widowmaker too,” Lúcio said quietly. “And the other one.” He straightened up a bit, his eyes boring into the screen, and Hana couldn’t help her smile.

_**Now** he’s thinking. Finally!_

“She might not have wanted to join Talon,” Lúcio said slowly, “but she’s always believed in that ‘order overcomes chaos’ stuff. Making the world a better place by building something new. That’s something they might have used to get to her. Especially if Angela reached out to her first.”

“She knew Angela was…” Hana frowned as she looked for the right word. “Compromised, though.”

“Depends when they picked her up.” Lúcio sighed. “We sent Satya a message to warn her - doesn’t mean she got it before they got to her. I don’t know, Hana. This was hard enough when we _knew_ who our friends were.”

Hana nodded. “It _sucks._ ” She met his eyes again. “Wish you were here.”

Lúcio’s grin made everything suck about five percent less. “Isn’t that my line?”

“I’m on a military base with the top MEKA pilots,” Hana answered with a cocky grin. “What’ve you got?” 

“A city full of fans, favelas we can disappear in, and I stole your hoodie?”

Hana giggled as she picked up a controller from beside her desk. “Okay, but _only_ because I want my hoodie back.”

Lúcio grinned. “Yeah, sure, totally just that.” He reached for a matching controller, and held it up to the camera. “Wanna go take down a couple dungeons before you have to go to bed?”

“ _Oh_ yeah. Think we could get Bri, too?”

“She’s probably out training - it’s early afternoon in Sweden, I think…” 

“Crap. Yeah… text her anyway?”

“Sure thing.”

Hana tabbed open her gaming rig, and threw the screen up to replace the video of Satya Vaswani. 

_He’s right about not being able to know who we can trust, now. But we know we have this._

Hana caught Lúcio’s eyes again, winking at him, then finished logging into the lobby to wait for his character, making her Hunter take a few swings with her sword. 

_**I** can have this._

They’d have more to do, but for a little while, they’d raid, they’d pwn, and they’d have some fun before she grabbed some sleep and Lúcio got on with the rest of his day.

Things were still going to suck when they were finished, but the real world could give them a chance to take a break.

\-----

The numbers were changing.

Since she’d made her way out of Ecopoint: Antarctica, Mei-Ling Zhou had defined much of her life by these numbers.

Greenhouse gas levels. Polar icecap density. Deep ocean temperatures. Microparticle pollution in the seas. Nitrogen capture potential in the soils of the earth, and runoffs and dead zones, and more. Comprehensively summed: the biocapacity of the planet.

She’d believed the world was worth fighting for, no matter the cost. That the second Omnic Crisis had to be prevented, or the ecological aftershocks would wipe out whomever survived. 

She’d watched those numbers continue to slowly march down, down, down, ever closer to the point of no return, despite her best efforts.

But now… the numbers were changing.

The curves - or more accurately, the derivatives of the derivatives of the curves - had shifted, over the last year, slowing the fall, and in the last month - impossibly - the first derivative set had peaked back _up_. It wasn't just the rate of the rate of change anymore - it was the direction of the changes itself.

The deltas were glacially slow, by most standards, but shockingly fast on an ecological scale - faster than should even be possible. The first three times she'd run the data, she'd thrown out the results and started over - it couldn't change that fast, not given what she knew about mitigation efforts. But, then, other researchers, in Africa, in Europe, in other parts of Asia - they'd all found the same changes.

It was as though the whole planet had been taken to a doctor and given a course of antibiotics to help it recover. It wouldn’t be ‘healed' for years, of course. Maybe not even centuries. But every day this trend continued was a step back from the brink of collapse. 

Her life’s dream.

“Yaaaay,” she cheered mournfully at the screens in her office at Lijang Tower. “We did it, Snowball.” 

Her little drone perked up from his charging cradle, but didn’t lift off yet.

“We _saved the world_ ,” Mei murmured as she opened one of the drawers and pulled out a stubby bottle of choujiu, pouring herself a ‘toast’ into her teacup. “And all it cost us was our friends.” She looked over at the picture of the EcoPoint team that she’d hung on the wall, raising her cup to them. “Twice.”

The sweet wine left a trail of warmth from her mouth to her belly, and she poured herself a second cup to follow the first down before she capped the bottle and slid it back into her desk. 

She had intended to sip the second cup of wine.

Really, she had.

But when the alcohol touched her lips she couldn’t stop herself from draining the cup in three swallows. 

Mei stared into the dregs at the bottom of her teacup, bewildered at where it had gone. 

“Maybe I should have poured myself a bigger cup,” she murmured as her hand reached for the desk drawer. 

“Or maybe I should have gone to London. Or said ‘Don’t trust Reaper’. Or ‘don’t trust _Moira_ ’, or just... stop.” 

She looked down at her teacup, full of the golden-hued wine again. “Stop.” Mei laughed bitterly to herself. “Stop.” She picked up the cup and drained it again. “Stop. Stop. Stop!” She shivered as she put the cup back down. It hadn’t been that cold earlier, had it? She’d taken her heavy parka off and hung it on the door. Her business casual blouse and embroidered trousers had been fine earlier. 

“Stop sounds _so easy_ ,” she explained to Snowball, the drone’s eyes now tracking her as she left her chair and started to walk around the room. “Doesn’t it? Stop! Just stop!” She turned and looked at her desk, her published reports on one side against the new data that she’d been collecting through colleagues and the remnants of the EcoPoint network that she’d been able to reactivate since she’d left the ice. “But the _data_ …” 

Mei shook her head as she reached for the bottle, draining the last swallows before tossing it into her trash can. “The data supported only one conclusion, and numbers don’t lie.” She shuddered, tears pricking at her eyes. “Not like people lie. Not like... whatever they’ve become.”

_Whatever I let Lena be turned into. Whatever they’ve made from Angela, and Fareeha._

“...I let it happen,” Mei said as she slumped into her chair. “Because we had to save the world. And I didn’t think there was another choice.”

“I am familiar with such feelings.”

Mei spun in her chair, shocked, and Snowball flew into the air to place himself protectively between her and the intruder before she gasped with recognition. “Hanzo?!”

It was no surprise she hadn’t recognized him at first - the older Shimada was wearing a _shirt_ , and a very Western style vest and pants to go with it instead of the yukata and antique battle dress she’d always seen him in before.

For that matter, his hair had been dramatically changed, now cut much shorter and gelled back, and his goatee trimmed down and styled into a much more contemporary look.

_Oh,_ Mei realized as she blinked at him. _He looks **hot**._

Hanzo gave a snort of amusement, and she realized that she must have said that out loud. “I felt it best to disguise myself to avoid any agents Talon may have searching for me... but I appreciate your approval.” 

Mei felt as if her entire head had turned red from blushing. “Oh. Well.” She patted at Snowball’s sensor assembly, gently encouraging him to return to his charger. “Thanks. I guess. But... what are you doing here?”

Hanzo shrugged, and Mei had to struggle not to focus on the way the tailored shirt flexed over his chest. “Your light was on.”

Mei huffed. “I mean in China. I thought you were…” She blinked. “Actually I don’t know where you were. I mean, that was sort of the point. Anyone who could disappear should disappear. But I’m too public. Between my work and the University…” 

Hanzo smiled thinly. “Forgive me, the joke was too easy.” He leaned against the wall, shifting slightly to accommodate the case on his back which Mei realized must be holding his bow and arrows. “I am traveling to Nepal, to speak with my brother. Lijiang was a convenient stop along the way.”

“Oh.” Mei blinked owlishly up at him. “That makes sense.” She giggled at herself. “I’m sorry, I think I might be a _little_ drunk.”

“Yes,” Hanzo agreed dryly. “Perhaps.” He looked over at the trash can, raising an eyebrow at the bottle there. “Do you make a habit of keeping wine in your desk?” 

“Not until…” Mei gestured out at her office window. “You know.” She gave Hanzo a warning look. “I’m not an alcoholic, though. An alcoholic would be drinking _baiju_ at work.” 

Hanzo grunted, a look of understanding on his face. “I have no room to judge you. But I know a great deal about feeling that you had no choice, and grieving the outcome of your actions.” 

“I guess you do,” Mei murmured. “Oh. Oh, I’m _sorry_ that wasn’t supposed to sound -”

Hanzo held up a hand, stopping her before she could spiral completely out of control. “I know.” When she went quiet, he rubbed lightly at the back of his neck. “My point, Doctor -”

Now it was her turn to interrupt. “You found me drunk in my office. I think you can call me Mei.”

Hanzo gave her a slightly broader smile. “My point, Mei, is that we cannot change the past. No matter how much we might wish to... and no matter how much wine we drink.”

“We can’t…” Mei felt her tears finally flowing, clouding her vision despite her glasses. “ _I_ can’t. But...what _can_ I do?”

Hanzo straightened, and offered his hand. “For tonight? You can rest. And from there... you can go on.” 

He had strong hands, with surprisingly soft skin despite the callouses from his martial arts and other training, and when Mei stumbled a bit on her feet, she didn’t really mind ending up leaning against him to stay upright. 

“I’ve got an apartment in the residential block,” Mei explained.

Hanzo gently steered her towards the door. “I know. Your coat?”

Mei very carefully took the coat from the hook and pulled it on. “Okay! I’m ready!” 

It wasn’t really a long walk to the tower’s central elevator, or to her apartment door from the lobby of her residential level, but Mei found herself leaning on Hanzo more and more as they walked, giggling softly to herself when she finally struggled to pull her keycard out of her pocket. 

“Okay! Got it!”

The door chimed, and Mei stepped halfway in, turning to look back to where Hanzo waited in the hall. “Do... you want to come in?”

“Mei…” Hanzo stepped forward, and put a hand on her shoulder. “You are tired, and you are drunk. It would... not be appropriate.”

Mei reached up to put her opposite hand over his. “I’m not _that_ drunk.” 

“Yes,” Hanzo insisted gently, “you are.”

“Do you even have a place to stay tonight?”

Hanzo shrugged. “I can find one.” 

She tugged at his arm, taking a step back. “Look... I _am_ drunk. But I have a couch. I _also_ have a bed. If I sleep on the bed and you sleep on the couch, will you stay?” She looked up slightly to meet his eyes again, blinking a few times. “Everyone keeps _leaving._ I wake up and I’m alone.” She let out a deep, shuddering sigh. “I _always_ wake up alone.”

Hanzo’s expression was unreadable, but he finally took a few steps inside, letting the door close behind him.

“The couch, then... and I promise that I will be here, when you wake up.”

Mei woke up far too early the next morning, her head pounding like someone had been drilling core samples out of her brain. Her mouth tasted like something fuzzy had crawled in and died there while she slept. 

But somehow, none of that mattered when she came out of the bedroom to make herself some tea, and found Hanzo sleeping peacefully on her couch.

**Author's Note:**

> To follow this story, [subscribe to the series via this link](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12703794), rather than to the individual eddas or sagas.


End file.
